A Tanzanian teenager caught his hand in the hawse pipe of a ship he was attempting to board in South Africa.

Herald Live reports the 19-year-old was attempting to board Panamanian bulk carrier MI Harmony in Durban close to midnight. His hand was crushed and partly amputated as a result of the motion of the vessel‚ trapping him. He has now been taken to hospital.

It is unclear why he was trying to board a ship headed to Maputo‚ Mozambique, but he may have been trying to make his way back to Tanzania.